"Ashrai yoshvai"

Dear Rabbi,

In the prayer "Ashrai Yoshvai vaysechah," the sentences begin alphabetically, i.e. the first with aleph and the second with beth and so on...but when we get to mem, we skip nun and go to samech. What happened to NUN ??????

Todah rabah

Answer

Very well observed! You are not the first to ask this question. The Talmudic sages also asked themselves why the sentence with a "nun" was missing from this psalm (145). (See Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 4b). The answer is given in the form of a midrash, impossible to translate, (but I will try anyway!)The nun would have alluded to a verse in Amos 5:2, beginning with a nun: "nafla lo tosif kum, betulat Israel." ["The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall rise no more"]. According to the midrash, David did not want to include an allusion to the fall of Israel. The midrash continues with an explanation that this is the reason why verse 14 says "The Lord upholds all that fall..." ["someh Adonai le kol hanoflim"] Now you know what happened to the "nun"!

Be well,

Rabbi Monique Susskind Goldberg